Great Retreat (Russian)

The Great Retreat occurred from July to September 1915 when, in the aftermath of the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive and the Central Powers' advances in Galicia, the Imperial Russian Army began a massive front-wide withdrawal into the Baltics and Russia proper. The Great Retreat was a humiliating defeat for the Russian Empire, causing Czar Nicholas II of Russia to assume supreme command of the Russian armies on 1 September 1915.

Offensive
Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff scorned Erich von Falkenhayn's breakthrough at the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, arguing that in driving the Russians back he was missing the chance to encircle and destroy them. They envisaged an offensive from East Prussia to the Pripet Marshes that would cut off the Russian armies in Poland. Falkenhayn instead authorized August von Mackensen to continue his advance, turning northeast across the Vistula towards Brest-Litovsk. Hindenburg and Ludendorff were reduced to a supporting role, commanding offensives from East Prussia into Lithuania and the north of the Polish salient.

For their part, the Russians were determined not to be encircled and were ready to sacrifice territory to keep their armies intact. The Germans advanced across Poland in July and August, but they were slowed by the poor roads and lack of railroads. The Russians withdrew in front of them. This became known as the Great Retreat. As they withdrew, the Russian troops adopted scorched-earth tactics. Crops were burned, animals killed, bridges blown up, and buildings destroyed. A policy of denying resources to the enemy spilled over into looting and attacks on civilians, especially Jews. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were driven in front of the retreating armies. No provision was made for this displaced population, who ended up starving in Russian towns. The Russian commanders achieved their objective as a defensive line was stabilized in September, but a blow had been delivered to the Russian Empire.

Aftermath
Despite suffering casualties of between one and two million in the battles of 1915, including hundreds of thousands of soldiers taken prisoner, Russia was prepared to fight on. On 1 September 1915, Czar Nicholas II assumed supreme command of the Russian armies. This ensured he would be personally identified with any future military reversals. Meanwhile, the poor state of supply to the troops at the front was popularly blamed on corruption and treachery at the czarist court and in the government. In fact, a surprising improvement in arms production meant that Russia's armies were equipped to continue the war in 1916, with mixed success.

In the last months of 1915, Germany and Austria-Hungary turned their attention to the conquest of Serbia. While this was under way, Falkenhayn made the decision to divert resources from the Eastern Front for a major offensive against the French at Verdun. This prevented Field Marshal Hindenburg and General Ludendorff from pursuing an offensive strategy and allowed the Russians to regain the initiative with the Brusilov Offensive in the summer of 1916.